One form of promotional campaign that has been used to attract customers to stores revolves around the use of game pieces. Fast food chain stores in particular have distributed game pieces to their customers, with the goal of increasing sales by attracting more or repeat customers. The game pieces sometimes provide an instant reward and may include a portion that is combined with other game pieces to redeem a different award.
In one game, a perforated cover conceals a hidden reward. To play the game, the player removes the cover to reveal the reward. In another game, a scratch-off cover conceals a selection of potential rewards and the player exposes a selected reward by scratching-off the cover with a coin, fingernail, etc. These games have been used by a variety of retail stores and especially fast food chain stores. State lotteries have also used such games.
In conventional game-piece campaigns and lotteries, the action of the game is confined to the real-world (a.k.a. "dirt-world"), with the rewards comprising free food, prizes, or discounts. In the case of fast-food chain stores, the reward is typically a food item, for example, french fries or a hamburger. Such prizes are furnished by the franchisee, who may or may not be reimbursed by the game-sponsoring franchisor or corporation. If the franchisees are to be reimbursed, the game pieces must be collected from each franchisee, forwarded to a processing center, cleared, and a credit allocated to each respective franchisee. The small game pieces can be difficult to handle and processing the awarded prizes is costly.
At least one Burger King.RTM. restaurant franchisee has provided customers with access to the internet through computer terminals connected in his restaurant. As reported in The New York Times, customers receive a personal identification number (PIN) which entitles them to twenty minutes of internet access when they make a minimum purchase at the restaurant. Gambling and sex-oriented sites are blocked. The internet access provided to such customers is no greater than that of any other person who connects to the internet and the customer is not guided to any particular internet site. Further, the customer does not earn points or credits which permit access to sites or services which are otherwise restricted to members, subscribers, or viewers who pay a fee to access such sites or services.
There exists a need for an improved game in which rewards are enjoyed in the virtual world, such as at an internet site. Also needed is an improved game which provides secure distribution and redemption of game pieces and/or incentives to return to the source of the game without the customer having to identify himself. Further, franchisee's are in need of an improved game to promote sales and customer interest wherein the rewards are disseminated by the franchisor. Moreover, store owners and franchisees alike are in need of an improved method to stimulate interest in their web sites and to encourage customers from the web site to their stores. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.